Managing emergencies in Nigeria
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), saddled with the responsibility to handle emergencies in Nigeria has, by way of its set up, administration and function, left much to be desired. This is in spite of efforts of the young and proactive director general of the agency, Alhaji Muhammad Sidi. This is because while the emergency […]
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), saddled with the responsibility to handle emergencies in Nigeria has, by way of its set up, administration and function, left much to be desired. This is in spite of efforts of the young and proactive director general of the agency, Alhaji Muhammad Sidi.
This is because while the emergency challenges globally are assuming even more complex dimensions, the Nigerian situation is aggravated by a near total collapse of infrastructure. Also, there is lack of coordination of efforts among the various agencies of government responsible for handling such emergencies on our roads, on our water ways, in our factories and other private and public premises.
In Nigeria, six months after the Sokoto floods, the UDUS bridge linking the Uthman Danfodio University, Sokoto with the rest of the state capital and the rest of the world, is still in precarious conditions. Sunday Trust of April 24, 2011 reports that the Vice Chancellor, Professor Arabu Shehu, is appealing to the government to rehabilitate the bridge before the next rainy season. This is despite the grand show put on by the government that the bridge had been rehabilitated. In many areas of Sokoto, temporary military bridges are still being used.
A similar situation played out after the Lagos flood of October 2010. The failure of the nation’s emergency preparedness was yet again highlighted in national newspapers. What becomes obvious from this is that Nigeria is always not ready for the four stages of emergency management – mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. So, the question is; what can be done to improve the situation?
It is clear that emergency services are uncoordinated in Nigeria. Parastatals like the Federal Fire Service and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) handle only aspects of emergency situations while the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is left to handle only the disbursement of relief materials, which is not even done properly as demonstrated by the Sokoto flood story where some of the victims got no compensation while others got meagre sums with huge sums going to those who were not even affected (Sunday Trust April 24).
There is urgent need to make NEMA proactive. The agency at the moment is reactive; waiting for disasters to happen and then hand out relief materials. If the Japanese had waited for the quake to strike before planning the strategy and at the same time taking action, the world would have witnessed an overwhelming catastrophe. But they planned against such circumstances; they built regulation houses to withstand quakes and built dykes to keep out tsunamis. But most importantly, they educated the populace on what to do before, during and after such eventualities (mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery). Moreover, the various agencies’ efforts and mandates were harmoniously coordinated and blended such that search, rescue and medication teams were working in harmony to save and serve victims. If the quake had not been as severe as it were and the tsunami as gigantic as it was, Japan would have emerged from the crisis relatively unscathed.
Nigeria needs to anticipate disasters and educate the populace on what to do. Nigeria’s manmade disasters far outweigh the natural ones. Hence, NEMA should be prepared for road accidents, fire mishaps, civil unrests, floods, draughts etc. This implies that various agencies of government which handle fragmented bits of emergency related mandates in the country such as fire accidents, road and inland water mishaps, floods and internally displaced people due to conflicts among others, have to be streamlined such that there is harmony and coordination of efforts to effectively manage such emergency situations. This way, the agency’s capacity in terms of human resource, technology and intelligence would be enhanced to be on top of any emergency situation.
In order to achieve this, it would be recommended that agencies like the Fire Service and the FRSC and even Civil Defence Corps be merged with NEMA. No emergency is too small and each has to be addressed properly.
Take for instance the tragedy in Sabon Wuse, Niger State, where 18 people died when the bus they were travelling in collided with a broken-down trailer on the Abuja-Kaduna highway (Nigeria Tribune, April 13). That particular trailer had broken down some four days before and the locals had severally reported to the nearby office of the FRSC to evacuate the vehicle but all to no avail. If the commission had considered the situation an emergency and acted accordingly, all those lives could have been saved and the riot that followed could have been averted. Emergency management should not be about handing out meagre relief materials, but planning strategically, building capacity, creating sufficient awareness and alertness for prevention as well as combating of disasters where and when they arise.
As it is today, the government is solely responsible for financing NEMA and the Fire Service agency. As a result, the agencies are grossly underfunded due to competing public demands on government coffers. Thus, it is not uncommon to hear that the Fire Service Units do not have functional equipments to fight infernos because their equipments are obsolete, broken-down or there is no ‘water’ in their fire engines. That is why the businesses and general community need as a matter of duty and corporate social responsibility to participate in the management of such life-saving facilities.
The roles of NEMA could as well be expanded in its scope to training of civil servants, company employees and other relevant groups that could serve as the first buffer zone in case of any localised emergency. This will reposition NEMA to a revenue generating and self-funded agency thereby reducing its dependence on government for funds.
In managing emergencies, communication is very important. NEMA needs to do more to jiggle its communication department. Such gaffes made by the agency during national emergencies have dented its image and credibility before Nigerians. Consider for instance the Belview Airline disaster of October 22, 2005. When the plane went missing shortly after takeoff from Lagos, NEMA announced that it had traced the wreckage to Ilorin, Kwara State. Contrary to this claim, the wreckage was eventually found in Lisa, Ogun State.
Lessons should be learnt from Chile. When 33 miners were trapped in a mine, the manner in which information was managed and the successful rescue of the miners did great things for that country’s image. In the age of i-phones, i-pads and the internet, there is every need to manage information properly, especially in emergency situations where people’s lives and livelihoods are at stake, particularly now that the current administration wants foreign investors into our economy.
In fact, it would be very helpful for NEMA to have information offices and training centres nationwide where up-to-date weather information and other data relevant to the nation and its citizens’ well being can be collected, collated and accessed. The lives of Nigerians and investments are too precious to be treated with levity.
Janzaki writes from Formationtek Service Ltd, Abuja